Well Sandy is a complete glutton for punishment and after mixing up his days on Tues, came out again to play today - Thurs. I tagged along as I didn't think it fair to let the old fella be the only one out on HTFU Thursday

Today's route a little less taxing than his Tues ride. Ride to start of OBR. OBR to Blaxland, down Mitchell's pass, back to M4.Up Lapstone Hill, down Mitchell's pass. Out to the Castlereagh Rd up to Hawkesbury Rd.Hawkesbury Rd up to Springwood. Back down GWH and then wait for it.... down Mitchell's Pass. Back through Emu Plains to Lifecycles at Penrith (where we were fully briefed on rider etiquette, fashion and style - and totally ignored it )Then back M4, M7 home. I got a total of 133km and 1436m of climbing. Sandy will well exceed 160km (just another casual imperial under his belt - 3rd in 9 days! )

Rockford wrote:Do you guys have breaks or are you riding the whole time? I did about 3 hours riding today with 3 x 5-10min breaks and I was stuffed at the end of it.

Definitely have breaks when needed. We met at cnr Russell St & OBR so I'd had a coffee at the Macca's. The first proper stop on the ride was at the Nepean crossing on Hawkesbury Rd about 10mins. Then at a BP at Sun Valley on the way down the mountain from Springwood - about 5min. Then at Lifecycles in Penrith - about 10mins when we called in to say hello.

On our 200km last weekend riding time was 7hr 40min, but we were away from home 11 1/2 hours.So lots of recovery stops

Russ, thanks for joining me on today's Thu HTFU ride. As you mention not quite as taxing as Tuesday's effort (and just as well for me too)) but a good work out none the less. We just need to get you on OBR with bmxbandito for moral support and we'll have you up there non stop. Jeff has his way of getting those with any self doubt to the top without stopping (it's called verbal abuse supported by his brandishing a substantial bike pump). 172 kms when I got home. My first (and probably last) 500 km week Lawns cut, pool cleaned, now it's feet up (and beer) time!NFS

Nice Sandy! Yeah, I enjoyed the ride/company today. Shame there was so much traffic, even this close to New Year it was noticable compared to the weekends.

I think I need to keep trying OBR till I "get" it. First few times on the flat bar I had to walk a section. Now I only need a break and then off pedalling again. Was very happy with making Hawkesbury Rd - not as hard as I thought, but looonng....

Glad you got all your chores done, that's very impressive after a 172 today and 210 on Tues. Good luck racing on Sunday.

The power of one! First it was Sandman off to commune with computers in the desert, then bmxbandito lashed to the workbench by the boss on Thursday mornings and finally Todd aka Badblood spirited off to Gosford by the scent of a woman! So the HTFU Thursdays are now a solo event.In honour of Sandman and to provide the full HTFU experience the small chain ring was left in the pocket today for a run up to Wentworth Falls. Lapo involved a bit more standing on the pedals in the 53/21 than usual and the final pitch up Boddington Hill was ground out in the 53/24. Was not as bad as I expected but not sure I'd do it again. Since someone kindly invented double chain rings I think I'll continue to use them. Made a mistake of diverting across to Agnes Banks from Springwood on the way home. Had forgotten how rough and "dead" that stretch of road along the bottom is the whole way. And as for Castlereagh Rd mid week. Every second vehicle a tipper truck with dog trailer bouncing all over the road at 100 kph and no hard shoulder. Never again!Survived back to Penrith for some counselling from the bandito and Doug about riding on busy narrow roads mid week, a cup of coffee then back across to the F4 and home. Terrific fine weather, not too hot, not too windy. Home and feet up with another 176 kms under the tyres. Don, you should have turned around this morning and joined me.NFS

nice one Sandy when i passed you i thought to myself, i am riding to work only doing approx 30km and that lucky b@astard is off on a 150+km ride, i was extremely jealous. Glad you had a good day, i need to take a day off and join you on one of your mega journeys.

Highly recommended. Just don't expect to be buying a new bike every other month You all know I only ride to Wentworth Falls to visit my mate in the nursing home 'cause I'm too mean to spend the money on petrol to go by car

NotFlyingScot wrote:The power of one! First it was Sandman off to commune with computers in the desert, then bmxbandito lashed to the workbench by the boss on Thursday mornings and finally Todd aka Badblood spirited off to Gosford by the scent of a woman! So the HTFU Thursdays are now a solo event.In honour of Sandman and to provide the full HTFU experience the small chain ring was left in the pocket today for a run up to Wentworth Falls. Lapo involved a bit more standing on the pedals in the 53/21 than usual and the final pitch up Boddington Hill was ground out in the 53/24. Was not as bad as I expected but not sure I'd do it again. Since someone kindly invented double chain rings I think I'll continue to use them. Made a mistake of diverting across to Agnes Banks from Springwood on the way home. Had forgotten how rough and "dead" that stretch of road along the bottom is the whole way. And as for Castlereagh Rd mid week. Every second vehicle a tipper truck with dog trailer bouncing all over the road at 100 kph and no hard shoulder. Never again!Survived back to Penrith for some counselling from the bandito and Doug about riding on busy narrow roads mid week, a cup of coffee then back across to the F4 and home. Terrific fine weather, not too hot, not too windy. Home and feet up with another 176 kms under the tyres. Don, you should have turned around this morning and joined me.NFS

Sandy

That is way awesome, how cool is that ride to mash it out in the big ring. Lappo in the 21 is nice, the legs are a little more tired by Boddington but its definitely a big ring "hill". I'm sure I shared the story of the School Teacher riding with Don and I one day up there, he attacks 1/2 way up Boddo so I'm left to accelerate and attack him and get onto the back of a truck and sail past him Then there was the ride up lappo and got onto the back of a truck, boy its a weird feeling accelerating so hard up a hill

Watched a few Youtube videos of Lance and Marco scaling Alpe du Huez and Vonteaux this afternoon, sheesh how motivating was that.

I'd have to agree Castlereagh road is no place for a cyclist mid week, too many trucks trying to squeeze past, its just darn nasty.

I suspect your "motivational post" here is going to make some other guys think twice when going up a hill.....I need to stay in the big ring for that little bit more...oh shite, I'm at the top, that wasnt so hard

Onya Sandy !

Sandman

P.S Mate, your the "last of the bunch" on Thursdays, I tell ya if I was still in Syd I would do anything to do the Thursday ride.....nothing beat the Thu HTFU ride even if I was a big sooky girl getting beaten in pace by Antman up old Bathurst

NotFlyingScot wrote:In honour of Sandman and to provide the full HTFU experience the small chain ring was left in the pocket today for a run up to Wentworth Falls. Lapo involved a bit more standing on the pedals in the 53/21 than usual and the final pitch up Boddington Hill was ground out in the 53/24.

That is way awesome, how cool is that ride to mash it out in the big ring. Lappo in the 21 is nice, the legs are a little more tired by Boddington but its definitely a big ring "hill".

NotFlyingScot wrote:In honour of Sandman and to provide the full HTFU experience the small chain ring was left in the pocket today for a run up to Wentworth Falls. Lapo involved a bit more standing on the pedals in the 53/21 than usual and the final pitch up Boddington Hill was ground out in the 53/24.

That is way awesome, how cool is that ride to mash it out in the big ring. Lappo in the 21 is nice, the legs are a little more tired by Boddington but its definitely a big ring "hill".

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.